New Delhi
(IANS): Citing
“significant gains” of the ongoing restriction across the country,
the Union Home Ministry on Friday extended the countrywide lockdown for a
further period of two weeks with effect from May 4 to contain the COVID-19
outbreak.

The third phase of
the lockdown will continue till May 17, and was announced ahead of the lockdown
2.0 ending on May 3.

The government
took the decision after a comprehensive review, and in view of the lockdown
measures having led to significant gains in the COVID-19 situation in the
country, it said.

In an order issued
by the Ministry under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, it is mentioned that
the lockdown is being extended for a “further period of two weeks beyond
May 4”.

The MHA also
issued new guidelines to regulate different activities in this period, based on
the risk profiling of the districts of the country into red (hotspot), orange,
and green zones.

The guidelines
have permitted considerable relaxation in the districts falling in the green
and orange zones. “No other activity is permitted within the Containment
Zones.”

Under the new
guidelines, a limited number of activities will remain prohibited throughout
the country, irrespective of the zone.

These include
travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, running of
schools, colleges, and other educational and training or coaching institutions,
hospitality services, including hotels and restaurants, places of large public
gatherings, such as cinema halls, malls, gymnasiums, sports complexes etc,
social, political, cultural and other kinds of gatherings, and, gatherings at
religious places/places of worship for public.

However, movement
of persons by air, rail and road is allowed for select purposes, and for
purposes as permitted by the MHA.

The new guidelines
also prescribe certain measures for well-being and safety of persons.

Movement of
individuals, for all non-essential activities, shall remain strictly prohibited
between 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Local authorities shall issue orders under appropriate
provisions of law, such as prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC
[Criminal Penal Code], for this purpose, and ensure strict compliance.

In all zones,
persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and
children below the age of 10 years, shall stay at home, except for meeting
essential requirements and for health purposes.

Out-Patient
Departments (OPDs) and Medical clinics shall be permitted to operate in all
three zones, with social distancing norms and other safety precautions, but
these will not be permitted within the containment zones.

State and UT
governments are mandated to strictly enforce the lockdown guidelines and they
shall not dilute these issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, in any
manner.

Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on March 24 declared a 21-day countrywide lockdown for the first
time to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The
restriction was extended on April 14 for another 17 days.

The criteria for
identification of districts as red, green and orange zones have been spelt out
in detail in the letter dated April 30, issued by the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Explaining these
zones, the Ministry said the green zones will be districts with either zero
confirmed cases till date or no confirmed case in the last 21 days. The
classification of districts as red zones will take into account the total
number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and
surveillance feedback from the districts. Those districts, which are neither
defined as red nor green, shall be classified as orange zones.

The classification
of districts into red, green and orange zones will be shared by MoHFW with the
states and Union Territories (UTs) on a weekly basis, or earlier, as required,
the Ministry said. While states and UTs can include additional districts as red
and orange zones, they may not lower the classification of a district included
by MoHFW in the list of red or orange zones.

Noting that number
of districts of the country have, within their boundaries, one or more
Municipal Corporations, the Ministry said it has been observed that due to
higher population density within these civic bodies, and consequent greater
inter-mixing of people, the incidence of Covid-19 within the boundary of the
the civic body is higher than in the rest of the district.

In the new
guidelines, therefore, it has been provided that such districts will be
classified into two zones — one for the area under the boundary of the
municipal bodies and another for the area falling outside their boundary.

If the area
outside the boundary of the civic body has reported no case for the last 21
days, it will be allowed to be classified as one stage lower than the overall classification
of the district as either red or orange. Hence, this area will be classified as
orange, in case the district is overall red; or as green, in case the district
is overall orange.